This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-399296, filed Dec. 27, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to an electron camera conforming to the DCF (Design rule for Camera File system) Standard and a method of controlling such an electron camera.
It is well known that the DCF Standard has been provided to define a scheme for managing the files for storing the image data that are obtained as a result of imaging operations using an electron camera on a recording medium. The DCF Standard elaborately defines file names to be used when recording data, directory names and storage areas for storing files and other matters to be observed.
The file management scheme conforming to the DCF Standard is highly convenient for managing data groups to be recorded from the viewpoint of electron camera. However, from the viewpoint of user, the user is not allowed to select a name he or she likes for each of the recorded data groups nor for the directory that is essential for managing the data groups. In other words, the DCF Standard is not very convenient to the user.
The storage capacity of the recording medium connected to an electron camera conforming to the DCF Standards is ever increasing and will be enormous when the time comes for the electron camera to use the hard disk of a PC server as recording medium as a result of technological development in the field of wireless data transmission.
Under these circumstances, it will be highly detrimental to the convenience of user in terms of file management that the user is not allowed to select a name he or she likes put on a file or a directory.
Techniques for managing files for an electron camera are proposed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 10-177646 and 2000-165789.
Of the above identified patent documents, the former describes a system for managing files storing image data of an electron camera that is adapted to generate a file name specific to each file that is not duplicative with the name of any other file as long as the same camera is used so that there may not exist two or more than two files with a same name, whereas the latter described a technique of taking in video data obtained by operating digital cameras of different types and storing them on files in a simple way. However, neither of them describe about tackling the above identified problems of selecting a name the user likes for a file in a file management scheme conforming to the DCF Standard.
In view of the above described circumstances, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electron camera compatible with any known file management schemes conforming to the DCF Standard and adapted to allow the user to select a name he or she likes for a file or a directory and easily take out the a file or a directory carrying the name selected by the user when storing the image data obtained as a result of imaging operations using the electron camera in order to improve the convenience to the user in terms of file management. Another object of the invention is to provide a method of controlling such a camera.
According to the invention, the above objects are achieved by providing an electron camera adapted to record the image data obtained as a result of imaging operations thereof on a recording medium with a file management scheme conforming to the DCF Standard, the electron camera comprising:
an input section for selecting and inputting a virtual directory name not restricted by the DCF Standard for the directory of the image data recorded on a recording medium with a file management scheme conforming to the DCF Standard;
a recording section for preparing a virtual directory management file showing the correspondence of the virtual directory name selected and input by the input section and the directory name of the same directory conforming to the DCF Standard and recording it on the recording medium, using the virtual directory name as name to be used for recording;
a display section for displaying a list of the virtual directory names selected and input by the input section on a display screen in response to an operation of a specific key;
a selecting section for selecting a predetermined virtual directory name from the list of the virtual directory names displayed by the display section; and
a control section for recording the image data obtained as a result of an imaging operation in the directory corresponding to the virtual directory name selected by the selecting section and conforming to the DCF Standard.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of controlling an electron camera adapted to record the image data obtained as a result of imaging operations thereof on a recording medium with a file management scheme conforming to the DCF Standard, the method comprising:
an input step of selecting and inputting a virtual directory name not restricted by the DCF Standard for the directory of the image data recorded on a recording medium with a file management scheme conforming to the DCF Standard;
a recording step of preparing a virtual directory management file showing the correspondence of the virtual directory name selected and input in the input step and the directory name of the same directory conforming to the DCF Standard and recording it on the recording medium, using the virtual directory name as name to be used for recording;
a display step of displaying a list of the virtual directory names selected and input in the input step on a display screen in response to an operation of a specific key;
a selecting step of selecting a predetermined virtual directory name from the list of the virtual directory names displayed in the display step; and
a control step of recording the image data obtained as a result of an imaging operation in the directory corresponding to the virtual directory name selected in the selecting step and conforming to the DCF Standard.
With the arrangement and the method as defined above, a list of selected and input virtual directory names is displayed on a display screen in response to an operation of a specific key and a predetermined virtual directory name is selected from the displayed list of the virtual directory names so that the arrangement and the method are made compatible with any known file management schemes conforming to the DCF Standard and adapted to allow the user to select a name he or she likes for a file or a directory and easily take out a file or a directory carrying the name selected by the user when storing the image data obtained as a result of imaging operations in order to improve the convenience to the user in terms of file management.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.